Lordstown workers push for contract rejection if factory is to remain closed – Detroit Free Press, Freep.com

The future of the Lordstown Assembly Plant in Ohio has been a friction point between General Motors and the UAW even before negotiations for a new contract began this summer, and now could pose a threat to ratification of a tentative agreement.

Details of the tentative agreement negotiated between the UAW and GM released Thursday said the factory is to remain closed.

“It is with sadness that, with this agreement, three of those four facilities will close,” a union summary said. “We remain strongly opposed to GM’s decision to ‘unallocate’ these plants and we will continue our efforts to fight for UAW jobs in America.”

About 40 to 50 UAW members gathered Thursday outside Detroit’s Renaissance Center ahead of the UAW National GM Council meeting as well as inside the Marriott hotel where the meeting was held chanting “no product no vote.”

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As UAW leaders Gary Jones and Terry Dittes descended the escalator to enter the ballroom ahead of the meeting, the protesters again shouted: “No product, no vote“ and “Stop giving our jobs to Mexico! ”

For its part, GM said it” is committed to future investment and job growth in the state of Ohio “despite the Lordstown closure.

” Projects planned for the Mahoning Valley include the opportunity to bring battery cell production to the area, which would create approximately 1, 000 manufacturing jobs, as well as the sale of the GM Lordstown Complex to Lordstown Motors Corp., a new company that plans to build electric pickups for commercial fleet customers. Lordstown Motors Corp. plans to create 400 manufacturing jobs initially.

“These two initiatives are not covered under the proposed tentative agreement reached between the parties.”

(Thebattery plant would be a joint venture that would involve a separate contractwith the UAW and be near the idled facility, a person familiar with discussions told the Free Press earlier this month.

Justin Brown drove from Wentzville, Missouri, to Detroit to participate in the protest. He worked 11 years at Lordstown before transferring to GM’s plan in Wentzville five months ago.

“I left my home and everything there in Lordstown , “said Brown.“ If there’s nothing in this contract for Lordstown, my vote is no. If they won’t give it to us now then I don’t think we should settle the contract. ”

Ready to stay on strike

Likewise, Tommy Wolikow said, “if they just throw Lordstown away, it’ll be a no for me. ”

Wolikow works at Flint assembly, but he spent years working at Lordstown. The 46, 000 members are “true union brothers and sisters and know the meaning of solidarity, they’ll stick with us ”and reject the proposed tentative contract.

“ If there’s no product for Lordstown, my vote is no, ”said William Goodchild, a laid-off Lordstown worker who came to GM’s headquarters to make sure UAW leaders know the Lordstown issue matters.

Goodchild, Wolikow, Brown and others at the rally said they are ready to stay on strike longer if need be to get a product for Lordstown. But Wolikow worries that some union members will see “the big carrot” GM has offered in the form of a ratification bonus of $ 11, 000 and “be bought out” to ratify a tentative contract if the National GM Council recommends it.

GM in November 2018 angered the UAW when it announced plans to idle four US plants, including Lordstown, which shut down earlier this year when production of the small Chevrolet Cruze ended.

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The decision was a sore point with President Donald Trump, who had promised workers during a 2017 rally in nearby Youngstown that he would protect manufacturing jobs. “Don’t move. Don’t sell your house,” he said.

After GM’s announcement last year, Trump periodically pressured GM and the UAW to find a way to keep the factory open, at one point hailing the Workhorse possibility as a savior for the plant.

Lordstown Motors is a new enterprise linked to Workhorse that is trying to arrange financing to buy the plant. While GM and others have said talks continue on that possibility and express optimism, it’sunclear whether or when a deal might come to fruition.

Several former Lordstown workers, transferred to other GM plants, have held to Trump’s promise and not sold their homes, commuting to new jobs in locations such as Flint and Lansing.

Mike Yakim, 51, a 25 – year GM employee, is one of them. He was featured in a Free Press story during the early days of the strike about his commuting from Lansing to Lordstown and picketing in both locations.

Yakim was at the Renaissance Center on Thursday.

“We feel violated by General Motors and hope that the UAW doesn’t betray our trust in them,” he said. He vowed to vote against the proposed contract if it did not commit a product to Lordstown.

Contact Jamie LaReau at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Susan Tompor contributed to this article.

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